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Email letters, Jan. 27, 2012

I think all Coloradans need to thank our Legislature for not allowing us to conceal carry a firearm without a permit. Criminals, perverts and just plain crazies already have that right and they need protected from us law abiding citizens. We definitely need to have more consideration for the criminals etc.

For the law abiding citizens to expect the Legislature to do something to help them to protect themselves as well as others is just strange. After all, law-abiding citizens can call 911 and then simply wait for the law enforcement officers to arrive to protect and save them. If it takes too long and you end up wounded or dead, just remember that criminals have civil rights and they need protected, too.

So if you are waiting for all the paper work to clear so you can obtain your CCW, remember you are a law-abiding citizen and you have no civil rights. I mean, we might stop a shooting and save some poor victim’s life. So my advice is to get to the polls and vote only for the candidate who will support the Second Amendment and not be so concerned with the rights of criminals.

LOVELL SASSER
Mack
Gingrich’s association with Freddie Mac will be his undoing

The conservative ranks of the Republican Party who need to offer up a candidate of stature to defeat Mr. Obama should not be overly concerned with the liberal news media’s revelation about Newt Gingrich’s past exploits as another sex-crazed political paramour.

Remember the sexual deviations of past President Clinton when he sodomized our sacred White House? He has gone from a repulsive pervert to become a well-recognized, elderly statesman of world renown.

What will defeat Gingrich and allow the present democracy-destroying president and his czar laden cabinet to remain in office is the $1,600,000 Gingrich gleaned from a failed Freddie Mac fund for supposedly being their $30,000 per month historian. Where is his body of recorded work?

Currently there is little notice of this fiasco, but the Democrats will utilize it to the maximum should Gingrich face off against Obama. Conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers who want to rid our nation of corruption and big government had better band together and take heed. Gingrich is at the trough for his own greedy gain.

America doesn’t need a second slick orator in the White House. Adios, Gingrich.

CLARENCE ROST
Delta
Wealth isn’t required for success

In her Jan. 22 letter, Clare Boulanger asserts that “less-wealthy” people may recognize the value of an education, but may not recognize it for themselves. What, then, could better explain, for example, wide support from the Latino community regarding state legislation introduced last year and again in 2012 promoting in-state tuition for illegal immigrants?

Also according to Boulanger, “What really makes the difference (in achieving success,) generation after generation, is not the values that are passed down, but the money.” The apparent implication is that those attributes are mutually exclusive. Thus, in her worldview, you can be a filthy rich, worthless lout and nevertheless be wildly successful. Otherwise, you are and will likely remain one of the great unwashed. In the latter case, abandon all hope for success regardless of your moral character, skill, energy, intellect and effort, to name a few.

Boulanger’s views represent a thinly veiled example of the class struggle theme, and by extension, the mentality of victimhood. It is a denial of people’s opportunity — with or without higher education — to achieve that to which they aspire and for which they are willing to work and risk. It is, in short, an insulting, back-handed slam at those for whom she professes such empathy.

BUD MARKOS
Grand Junction

Pipeline had lots of opposition

It is time to stop the grousing over the president’s Keystone Pipeline decision. First, this pipeline was built to benefit Canadian oil companies, who may import Canadians in its construction. It was planned to pass over the heart of not one, but two unique resources: the Ogallala Aquifer and the Nebraska Sandhills, an area of great ecological significance.

The aquifer irrigates 27 percent of U.S. farmland, including some on the eastern Colorado plains and provides drinking water for 82 percent of citizens within the 8 states in its boundary. The Sandhills are a Nebraska treasure, both for their unique ecology and as the heart of much of Nebraska cattle ranching, and as precious to Nebraskans as our Dominguez-Escalante NCA is to us.

This poorly planned project is not well received in Nebraska. In November last, the Nebraska state Legislature voted unanimously to reroute the pipeline from Keystone’s current plan and passed two bills signed into law by their Republican governor, Dave Heineman, to reestablish state control over pipeline regulation.

I have family and farm connections in my birth state of Nebraska, which is not a liberal state, and can assure you that the decision to reconsider the route of the pipeline was not unpopular there. In addition, may I be so bold as to offer Kerr’s law: all pipelines leak. The most critical question when we must build them is where to we place them to make sure they leak in the most salvageable areas — this one has not yet passed that test.

Finally, it is despicable for us in Colorado, where states’ rights are such a sacred precept, to be attempting to dictate to another state.

LORALEE KERR
Grand Junction

Controlling school lunches is another step in wrong direction

Newsflash: School district 51 has a budget shortfall. Not a surprise given the government regulations and welfare they have to deal with. It’s just a shame the kids get slighted because of government nonsense.

The latest evidence of this nonsense is the push to reduce “trans fat” in school food. Nobody will argue that more trans fat is better than less, but I have to wonder if the whole thing isn’t just a diversion taking attention away from subsidized school food in the first place.

Free welfare food is a poor substitute for the lifelong scars of destroyed families, dependence on food stamps, SSI and unemployment compensation. But,free is free and food is food, trans fat or not.

Welfare like that becomes addictive. Like a bear trap, easy to get in and hard to get out. Wanna see government meddling up close? Try buying a light bulb and know that soon you’ll only be able to get the new and better government approved ones.

Unfortunately, I suspect that’s only the beginning. Sooner yet, I expect we’ll get outlawed petroleum, mandated electric cars and government required green energy. Over the horizon of course are more government surprises like free, rationed health care resulting in defunct Social Security, a virtually worthless dollar and a toothless defense department.

Who knows where we’re headed in the future? Hell, maybe.

AL CARLEY
Grand Junction

Groups shows solidarity with anti-abortion group

We want to express our appreciation to the Mesa County Right to Life group who gathered at a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the U.S. Supreme Court s Roe v. Wade decision. The group dedicates themselves to protecting the right to life of all children including the unborn and deserves our support.

As we stand in solidarity with Mesa County Right to Life with concern for this issue, Grand Valley Peace & Justice has a responsibility to look at an issue from many angles, starting with root causes and contributing factors.

Data shows poverty and inadequate health care are likely contributors to high numbers of abortion cases. An article by the editors of AMERICA Magazine on January 16, 2012, stated, “Political programs are crucial, and not just those focused on the Supreme Court. With one in four children now counted as poor, working against poverty so that families can feed their children is also key.”

Furthermore, the Guttmacher Institute data states that the abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level is more than four times higher than that of women from middle-income and affluent households.

Incidentally, our recent census told us that the poverty and extreme poverty rate among women in the United States is nearly 21 percent [7.8 million] and that 21 percent [nearly 15 million] of all children in the United States live in families surviving on incomes below poverty level.

On a larger scale, 1.2 billion citizens of our world are living below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day, the majority of which are women and children. Hopefully, we can all support the Right to Life group’s quest to provide a safer, more supportive world for women and children, because to stand for life is to stand for the needs of women and children who epitomize the sacredness of life.

Great news via LA Times. The U.S .House has passed the War Memorial Protection Act — and the World War Two Memorial Prayer Act. Now it is up to the Senate to discover their patriotism.

Both these measures were made necessary by courts that act in contempt for the very Constitution all public officers swear or affirm intent to support. The same Congress that adopted the Bill of Rights , repassed the Northwest Ordinance (just a month earlier, declaring the principles of religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government). The same day Congress adopted the Bill of Rights, it acted to ask the president set aside and proclaim a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving to memorialize that important day.

I am not willing to say Congress did not know what it had written and adopted. Neither can I say Congress in 1954 misunderstood the First Amendment when it provided the prayer room in the Capitol with image of Gen.Washington in military uniform kneeling in prayer surrounded by Psalm 16:1. I am saying our current Court has acted in contempt of the Constitution all judges swear or affirm they will support. I urge our senators to pass these memorial measures without prejudice or amendment.

ROBERT JAMES BURKHOLDER
Fruita
District Attorney speak out against Myrl Serra’s crimes

As District Attorneys, and in accordance with our ethical guidelines, we withheld comment on the charges against Myrl Serra, former District Attorney in the 7th Judicial District, during the pendency of the proceedings. Since Mr. Serra has been convicted and sentenced, it is necessary for us to openly address his conduct.

As president of the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, I am speaking for all the elected prosecutors in our organization in writing this letter. There are four points we would like to make:

First, we express our sincere apologies and sympathy to the victims in this case and all those who were affected by Mr. Serra’s illegal and destructive actions. The scars left by such actions are often life-long. We also recognize the lasting harm caused by these crimes to the community and to the outstanding staff of the District Attorney’s office in the 7th Judicial District.

Second, as the state’s prosecutors, we are held to a higher standard — as we should be. We are committed to the law and the ethical rules that govern our profession. When one of us violates the law, we will not hesitate to openly and publicly take a position expressing our abhorrence of the activities that have brought disrepute to our profession. Mr. Serra’s acts have not only created great harm to the victims and his community but have tarnished the reputation of prosecutors who are committed to the highest ethical standards in the legal profession. There is no excuse for his actions.

Third, we thank the Attorney General’s office for their very able handling of this case. Hopefully the court’s decision will serve its intended purpose. We trust that as a result of his conviction and sentence, Mr. Serra will never again be in a position to take advantage of others by virtue of his power or authority, or in any other context.

Finally, as District Attorneys we are vigorously opposed to any sexual harassment in the work place no matter who may be involved. We all have strict office policies against sexual harassment which are taught and emphasized in every DA office. Thus, it pains us deeply when one of our own violates the very policies and laws we so vigorously uphold.

We hope and pray those who were victimized will continue to heal. Again, we apologize as a profession for all who suffered because of the actions of former District Attorney Myrl Serra.